Prior art 3-dimensional displays rely on systems which capture two different images from two locations and presenting each image to each eye by means of well known devices such as stereoviewers or stereoscopes.
Most recently, the recording of two stereoscopically related images from a single point in space, but requiring two separated scanning beams to illuminate the scene, was described in application Ser. No. 537,514 filed Sept. 30, 1983.
Additionally, two dimensional video images of an object or a scene have been effected without using a camera. In such a system, the object is illuminated by scanning light, such as a laser beam, which moves over the scene in a raster similar to the movement of an electron beam in a CRT. The light from the laser beam reflected by the scene is picked up by a photomultiplier which controls the beam intensity of a cathode ray tube of a video monitor. Thus, as the laser beam scans the object the photomultiplier senses variations in the reflected light and generates an analog output which is coupled to the gun of the cathode ray tube of the video monitor. The movement of the electron beam emanating from the gun of the cathode ray tube is synchronized with the movement of the laser beam. Such systems are useful for generating two dimensional images on a monitor and have been used in the inspection of nuclear reactors and in scanning laser ophthalmoscopes. However, to date such systems have not been useful or adaptable for three dimensional displays.
In addition to such systems numerous efforts have been made to create a wide range of three dimensional imaging systems. Some of these systems have been described in a number of issued U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,372,646; 1,595,295; 2,235,743; 2,360,322; 2,568,327; 2,751,826; 3,039,358, 3,731,606; 3,810,213; 3,990,087; 4,009,951; 4,189,210; 4,290,675; and 3,431,299.